Kurt Angle Recalls Vince McMahon Turning Down WrestleMania Main Event Idea
Kurt Angle had a great idea to be part of a WrestleMania main event, but Vince McMahon didn’t go for it.
The main event of WrestleMania 18 in 2002 saw Chris Jericho defend the Undisputed WWE World Championship against Triple H, who was the 2002 Royal Rumble winner. Stephanie McMahon was in Jericho’s corner for the match since her “marriage” to Triple H fell apart leading up to the match.
At that same WrestleMania 18 event, Kurt Angle was featured on the undercard in a match against fellow WWE Hall of Famer Kane. Angle got the win in the match by pinning Kane while putting his feet on the ropes. It was not a memorable match, especially compared to some other great performances that Angle had in his career.
During a recent edition of the Kurt Angle Show podcast, the Olympic Gold Medallist recalled calling WWE Chairman Vince McMahon a few weeks before WrestleMania 18 to pitch the idea of Angle being added to the match between Jericho and Triple H.
“You know what I tried to do? I called Vince two weeks before WrestleMania. I’m like, Hey, Stephanie was my manager and we had a little romance going and now she’s with Jericho. I think you should throw me in the world title match with him and Triple H and make it a triple threat. He said he’ll think about it [laughs].”
“You know what? I don’t blame him. Probably Hunter said, ‘no, no, I just want to focus on Chris,’ which is fine with me. I thought you know, that’s the way that we’re supposed to go anyway. But I got shut down.”
As noted by Angle, he was not added to the Jericho-Triple H match. Triple H won clean and even gave a Pedigree to his future, real-life wife Stephanie McMahon as well. Many people have said that The Rock’s match with Hulk Hogan should have gone on last, but it was Triple H and Jericho who got to be in that spot.
Did Kurt Angle Get To Main Event WrestleMania?
The good news for Kurt Angle is that one year later at WrestleMania 19, Angle defended the WWE Title against 2003 Royal Rumble winner Brock Lesnar. They went on to have a fantastic match that is remembered mostly for Lesnar missing a Shooting Star Press off the top rope. Lesnar recovered and finished off Angle with an F5 to become the WWE Champion.
That WrestleMania 19 match was the only time Angle wrestled in the last match at a WrestleMania event.
If you use any quotes from this article please credit original source and then h/t with a link back to TJRWrestling for the transcription.